Balthus Dire was the sorcerer and ruler of the Citadel of the Chaos (aka The Black Tower). The bulk of his forces consisted of thirty-seven tribes of Hill Goblins from the lands subservient to the Black Tower. Their leader was the goblin sergeant-at-arms Orcleaver. This makes the majority of the Army of Balthus Dire a hordes one. Other troops included untrained and wild orcs (best represented as Warband and known to the goblins as "Drones"), Giant Insects (Flyers) and Giant Spiders (beasts or lurkers), Eyeless Archers (Shooters, described as "small, eyeless fiends with shaggy faces") and Hellhounds (Beasts). Alternate horde types include Calacorms (two headed lizardmen, prone to arguments between heads and a pathological fear of mice), Hill Barbarians and Black Elves (black-skinned Dark Elf types). Dire did not accompany the army into the field, delegating command to Orcleaver who can be represented with a warband general.

Balthus Dire's citadel was the chosen residence of the Ganjees, evil spirits who swore no allegiance to him and tolerated him only out of curiousity about mortal magic. At the start of the war they moved into Marr's camp in order to find out about his 'marrangha' magic (see later) and fought against their previous host. They chose to appear as floating disembodied heads and their lair in the tower was filled with magical darkness.

To combat them once they had changed sides, Dire used the stolen cunnelwort to project his mind into other dimensions in order to summon forth the Sorq Spirits to combat them. These materialized in a phantom form that appeared to each individual who saw the Spirits as it's own worst nightmare. When they combatted the Ganjees, both sides vanished from the mortal realm in order to continue their fight elsewhere. Accordingly the difficulty in getting either to fight and their rapid departure from the field suggests their fielding as Gods, although they are not true Gods. A interesting side-effect of the Sorq Spirit's illusionary appearance is that Marr's undead Soulless Ones saw them as Marr himself (thus embodying their greatest fear) and they were unable to strike back at what they believed to be their master. A couple of extra rules apply therefore - if both Ganjees and Sorq Spirits are in combat then both vanish from the table, and the Sorq Spirits disregard all negative effects from Soulless One hordes in combat.

Stronghold - The Black Tower itself, set in black hills. The original cover of the Citadel of Chaos gamebook showed the tower as looking near-identical to the citadel found on Citadel Miniatures products.

Alternatives: Hordes (Barbarians, Calacorms, Black Elves) @1AP, Beasts (Giant Spiders or Hellhounds) @2AP, Lurkers (Giant Spiders) @1AP

Marr was originally a co-pupil with Dire of the master sorcer Volgera Darkstorm (the third pupil was Zagor, the Warlock of Firetop Mountain). Where Dire allied with the chaotic forces of the Black Hills, Marr was more of a necromancer and the inventor of the magical black art of 'marrangha' - the transplantation of organs and limbs from one species to another, resulting in his dungeon being stocked with freakish half-breeds. His stronghold were his dungeons and mines beneath the village of Coven, although he did not inhabit them, preferring to dwell in a limbo-like dimension reachable only through a magical mirror in his possession. This mirror was mounted on a wall in the Galleykeep, his flying galleon, a ship fitted with black sails and bearing the crest of a cowled skull, his personal emblem.

Like Dire, Marr did not lead his army, but left control to his lieutenant Thugruff, a half-troll. Also present as a named personality was Darramous, administrator of his dungeons who was in charge of Marr's marrangha beasts. The bulk of the army comprised of Marr's legionaries - regular troops. Present at the final battle of the war were a regiment of spear-armed Rhinomen (Spears) who bore the brunt of the fighting and appear to be Marr's crack troops. There was also a regiment of Human Mercenaries (Blades), Lizard-Men and Black Elves. The armament of the latter two is not stated so they may be fielded as Spears or Blades. A fifth regiment of legionaries was comprised of mixed races - Goblins, Dwarfs, Kobolds, Craggeracks (described as kobold-like) and Gorians (unknown). The mix of species and probable mix of equipment suggests that this regiment may be fielded as Horde. All told, these infantry totalled about 1000 strong.

The rest of the infantry consisted of 500 Soulless Ones - zombies capable of inflicting wounds that turned the wounded into zombies. Fielded as Horde. These are incapable of doing any harm to the Sorq Spirits in Dire's army.

Darramous was in charge of a gaggle of marrangha beasts which were unleashed upon Dire's army. This collection of freaks of nature are fielded as Beasts.

Ace-in-the-hole of the Marr army was the Galleykeep itself, which carried Marr's mirror and portal to his personal limbo realm, as well as the human renegade Vallaska Roue who was another of his lieutenants and possibly captain of the ship itself. It took an active role in the battle, attacking ground troops with potash balloons and trident-firing ballistae. It can therefore be treated as an Airboat. Accompanying the Galleykeep were 12 Tooki - griffon type beasts carrying orc archers. These can be fielded as Flyers or assumed to be included with the Airboat element (as they have been in the list).

Stronghold - The village of Coven. The fall of this represents an infiltration of the mines and dungeon through the secret entrances he had scattered nearby.

Alternatives : Warband (Blood Orcs) @2AP, Flyers (Tooki fielded as seperate unit) @2AP, Spears or Blades (more regular legionaries - Human, Lizardmen or Black Elves) @2AP, Blades (human mercenaries known as 'Strongarms') @2AP

Ganjees vs Sorq Spirits

Once Dire succeeded in bringing the Sorq Spirits to Allansia, they left him in order to explore the new world in which they found themselves. Learning of the existence of the Ganjees they seemed hell-bent on destroying them and the Ganjees were as keen to defeat them. Once battle between the two factions was underway (in the Siege of the Black Tower) they vanished to an alternate dimension in order to continue the fight. Accordingly if both elements of Gods are in base-to-base contact, both are removed from the table.

This occured before the final battle of the Trolltooth Wars and so if refighting that battle, 4AP of alternative selections should be taken instead of the Gods.

Possession of Orcleaver

Before the final battle, Orcleaver had been attacked and possessed by a Night Shadow, a creature of pure darkness under the control of Darramous. As a result, Orcleaver drifted in and out of consciousness during the battle caused by this. As a result, if Orcleaver rolls a 1 for PIPs, he gets 0 PIPs in the next turn.